"Two women, two generations, one story of love and sacrifice. County Kildare is about the families we lose, the ones we choose, and the bonds we can never break.”
In the summer of 2011, Maeve Grisham is a journalist restless for a story that matters. When new legislation reveals the name of her birth mother, she is thrust into an investigation that is both deeply personal and profoundly political. Her search leads her into the shadowed world of mother-and-baby homes and institutions that tore families apart for decades.
Across the ocean and a generation earlier, in 1984 County Kildare, sixteen-year-old Fiona Grisham finds herself in love for the first time. But when her pregnancy takes her away from home, she is left with no choices of her own.
Spanning two timelines and two countries, County Kildare is a story of resilience, silence, and secrets long buried. It asks what it means to belong: to a place, to a family, and to ourselves. With themes of motherhood, love, and sacrifice at its heart, this debut novel offers readers an intimate glimpse into one of Canada’s darkest histories—while exploring the unbreakable bonds that connect us across generations.
